Agreements Cover Several Issues for Belize & Guatemala to Live Peacefully

Dean Barrow

Prime Minister Dean Barrow, signatory to the agreements on behalf of Belize, also conceded that both countries desire to live peacefully.  The PM acknowledged, in large part, the role Foreign Ministers Wilfred Elrington as well as Carlos Raul Morales, in formalizing the way forward through several rounds of negotiations which began earlier this year.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“Today, you will help to bear witness to the signing of thirteen agreements which covers a range of cooperation issues of our two countries and by extension, the region as a whole. The question may well be asked how did we reach here. We got here because both of us desired to live in peace, side by side, in friendly neighborly relations. Second, after decades of unsuccessful negotiations, the time had come for us to enhance our cooperation and build confidence between our governments and people. So we agreed to implement the 2005 agreement on confidence building measures which had set out a list of cooperation areas to be actioned via the work of the Belize-Guatemala Joint Commission. And the word because flesh so to speak after our two foreign ministers met at the beginning of this year and formalized the work plan. Nobel Laureate and former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, is known for his famous quotation, I like to build bridges, not walls. The similar spirit informed the approach of our foreign ministers as evidence in a joint communiqué after a meeting in Belize City. That is what led to the urgent pace of this year’s many activities crowned now by this giant step marked by today’s ceremony.”